Halloween Ghost Pumpkin Science Activity

We do love all things science and making things erupt around here! Stuff like this makes learning so easy. When fall arrives, pumpkins make the perfect vessel for cool baking soda science experiments. It all began three years ago with the famous pumpkin-cano! This year we also tested out mini pumpkin volcanos. Now, we can check this cool ghost pumpkin science eruption off our list.

HALLOWEEN GHOST PUMPKIN SCIENCE ERUPTION

We have a fun lineup of ideas for you this fall as we approach Halloween! 31 ideas for cool STEM activities gives you tons of ways to include a bit of STEM into a fun holiday. In fact, Holiday STEM is our favorite.

Gather your supplies. I like to use some sort of tray or storage container lid with high sides to catch the mess. Keep some towels handy just in case. You might want to try out our Ghost Pumpkin Geo Board first!

Pour vinegar into a bowl and have a baster or scoop ready. You can also set up a Pumpkin Investigation Tray with the insides of the pumpkin!

*** If you don’t want to carve a face, just remove the top. You will still have a cool pumpkin volcano***

Add a few scoops of baking soda.

Next add glitter and food coloring if desired

Then add a few drops of dish soap if desired

Finally, add vinegar and get ready to say WOW!

Repeat process until you run out of baking soda or vinegar.

WHAT’S THE SCIENCE?

This ghost pumpkin science eruption is called a chemical reaction. When the baking soda {base} and vinegar {acid} mix, they react. The reaction is a gas called carbon dioxide. Therefore, you can see the bubbling fizzing action the gas produces.

The addition of dish soap creates suds that make for a more dramatic appearance. Try it both ways. Without the dish soap, you can observe the chemical reaction more closely. You can hear, see, and feel the bubbling, fizzing action.

What happens when you add extra soap? You get an extra bubbly ghost pumpkin science eruption.

[…] to see which liquid dissolves candy first. While that is dissolving, we will create a ghost pumpkin eruption using one of our jack-o-lanterns. My kids love anything that explodes or erupts. We will end our […]